34 USC 10564 – Use of grants
(a) In general
A State or unit of local government that receives a grant under this subchapter shall use the grant to do any one or more of the following:
(1) To carry out all or a substantial part of a program intended to improve the quality and timeliness of forensic science or medical examiner services in the State, including such services provided by the laboratories operated by the State and those operated by units of local government within the State.
(2) To eliminate a backlog in the analysis of forensic science evidence, including firearms examination, latent prints, impression evidence, toxicology, digital evidence, fire evidence, controlled substances, forensic pathology, questionable documents, and trace evidence.
(3) To train, assist, and employ forensic laboratory personnel and medicolegal death investigators, as needed, to eliminate such a backlog.
(4) To address emerging forensic science issues (such as statistics, contextual bias, and uncertainty of measurement) and emerging forensic science technology (such as high throughput automation, statistical software, and new types of instrumentation).
(5) To educate and train forensic pathologists.
(6) To fund medicolegal death investigation systems to facilitate accreditation of medical examiner and coroner offices and certification of medicolegal death investigators.
(b) Permitted categories of funding
Terms Used In 34 USC 10564
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- State: means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands: Provided, That for the purposes of section 10156(a) of this title, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands shall be considered as one state 1 and that for these purposes 67 per centum of the amounts allocated shall be allocated to American Samoa, and 33 per centum to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. See 34 USC 10251
- unit of local government: means &mdash. See 34 USC 10251
Subject to subsections (c) and (d), a grant awarded for the purpose set forth in subsection (a)(1)—
(1) may only be used for program expenses relating to facilities, personnel, computerization, equipment, supplies, accreditation and certification, education, and training; and
(2) may not be used for any general law enforcement or nonforensic investigatory function.
(c) Facilities costs
(1) States receiving minimum grant amount
With respect to a State that receives a grant under this subchapter (including grants received by units of local government within a State) in an amount that does not exceed 0.6 percent of the total amount made available to carry out this subchapter for a fiscal year, not more than 80 percent of the total amount of the grant may be used for the costs of any new facility constructed as part of a program described in subsection (a).
(2) Other States
With respect to a State that receives a grant under this subchapter in an amount that exceeds 0.6 percent of the total amount made available to carry out this subchapter for a fiscal year—
(A) not more than 80 percent of the amount of the grant up to that 0.6 percent may be used for the costs of any new facility constructed as part of a program described in subsection (a); and
(B) not more than 40 percent of the amount of the grant in excess of that 0.6 percent may be used for the costs of any new facility constructed as part of a program described in subsection (a).
(d) Administrative costs
Not more than 10 percent of the total amount of a grant awarded under this subchapter may be used for administrative expenses.
(e) Backlog defined
For purposes of this section, a backlog in the analysis of forensic science evidence exists if such evidence—
(1) has been stored in a laboratory, medical examiner’s office, coroner’s office, law enforcement storage facility, or medical facility; and
(2) has not been subjected to all appropriate forensic testing because of a lack of resources or personnel.